Bodies of Indian climbers brought back from mountain

KATHMANDU, Nepal – Rescuers on Sunday recovered the bodies of two Indian climbers who died on the world’s third-tallest peak this past week and flew them to Nepal’s capital.

The bodies of Biplab Baidya and Kuntal Kanrar were first carried by rescuers from Mount Kanchenjung’s highest camp to a lower camp and then picked up by a helicopter. Helicopters can reach only up to the lower camps on the high Himalayan peaks.

Baidya had scaled Kanchenjung, while Kanrar was on the way up but fell sick and died. Baidya became sick on his way down.

They both fell sick just below Kanchenjunga’s 8,586-meter-high (28,160-foot-high) summit.

It is believed they were suffering from high altitude sickness and frostbite, but autopsies will be conducted at the hospital in Kathmandu where the bodies are being kept.

Hundreds of foreign climbers and their guides attempt to scale high Himalayan peaks during Nepal’s popular spring climbing season, which begins around March and ends this month.